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Saturday, March 26, 2016

Hi Everyone! It's been awhile since we've participated in blog tours (and I have missed it soo much) and today will be the start to our first blog tour for 2016! YAY! We have here on our blog today Mary Weber, author of The Storm Siren Trilogy, listed her music choice for Siren's Song characters, which has been released last March 1st. Check out below playlist and you might discover your new fave song today! Enjoy!=)

Nym and Draewulf prepare to face off in a battle destined to destroy more lives than it saves.

With the loss of Tulla still fresh in mind, Rasha’s fate unknown, and Lord Myles taken over by the dark ability, Nym and the few Bron soldiers rush to warn Cashlin’s queen. Only to discover it may already be too late for the monarch and her eerie kingdom. As the Luminescents are sifting through Nym’s past memories and the queen is reading into her future, Nym is given a choice of how to defeat Draewulf, but the cost may be more than she can bear. And even then there are no guarantees.

With that reality burrowing into her bones—along with the guilt of the lives she will sacrifice—Nym returns to her homeland of Faelen to raise an army of peasants through promises of freedom. But when the few friends she has left, along with the world and citizens she loves, are staring down the face of a monster and his undead army, will Nym summon every element her blood is capable of controlling . . . or surrender to a different strength—one of sacrifice?

Because in the end, death may be more merciful for them all.

Can we just take a moment to admire this image.

I mean A for effort. I SO LOVE IT :*

Mary Weber: "Hi
there!! Thanks for having me, and thanks for the music question!!!!

I adore
playlists – so making them for the characters was all kinds of fun. <3

With that
in mind, here are my picks and reasons behind them!"

For Nym – I’d go with “Superhuman” (Culture Code Remix) by
Juventa feat Kelly Sweet. Everyone has these expectations on Nymia to save
them, except as much as she tries she mainly just sees her own vulnerability
and fear – not realizing it’s that very vulnerability that people trust and
follow. It’s her vulnerability that makes her strong.)

For Eogan – definitely "It's Thunder and It's
Lightning" by We Were Promised Jetpacks (the album version vs the live
version ;0)) Eogan is so in love with
Nym and it kills him to see her hurt. So here he is torn within himself as to
how best to do what’s right. Thus, his world is very much like thunder and
lightning, as is their relationship.

For Draewulf – my pick is "So Happy Together" by
Filter.Filter’s version of this
song so perfectly captures Draewulf’s creepy, stalkerish obsession with needing
Nym in order to ultimately take over the world. I love it.

For King Sedric – I like “The Royal We” by Silversun Pickups.He’s this royal teenage
king who’s half-looking over his shoulder and half about to unleash the
boiling, trod-down, fear-that’s-been-holding-them-down-too-long fury of his
nation upon the approaching darkness.

For Kel – “Over the Rainbow” by Israel Kamakawiwo’ole. Oh Kel, my heart! Despite
what this small boy’s lived through, his innocent soul still believes in
beauty, hope, and a future. Which is why we believe in him. <3

For Isobel – definitely “I’m So Sick” by Flyleaf. As Draewulf’s daughter,
Isobel’s been “infected” by those who raised her. She’s only known control and
blind trust to a self-serving father. Hence Nym’s ability for compassion toward
Isobel – because she recognizes the rage and disgust as a cover for insecurity
and emotional abuse.

For Lord Myles – I’ll have to go with “You Will Never Know” (Miguel Campbell & Matt Hughes Remix)
by Imany. I don’t think anyone truly
knows what Lord Myles’s internal demons are until they begin to erupt and show
a different side of him – a broken side shaped by hunger for acceptance and
love. Even if they’re protected behind a sometimes unpalatable personality.

For Princess Rasha – ooh “Silence” (DJ Tiesto’s In Search of Sunrise
Remix) by Delerium feat Sarah McLachlan. Princess Rasha was raised
in near-silence, and it’s how I’d describe her soul – quiet, calming, assured.
And yet…there is a rage within her that when unleashed might enable others to
find freedom.

For Allen the Dwarf – “Magic” by
Coldplay! Omg I love that fact that
no matter what danger and death await, Allen’s lighthearted soul will make you
believe there is faith and hope and laughter.

And for a little extra… if the Storm Siren
Trilogy had theme songs, they would be:

STORM SIREN – “Demons” by Imagine Dragons

SIREN’S FURY – “Dark Horse”
by Katy Perry

SIREN’S SONG – “Tonight” by
Smashing Pumpkins

<3

Thank you so much Mary Weber for such great playlist! I am sure that with this, a lot of people will be intrigued to these characters based on your pick of music for them, because I am! :))

Mary Weber is a ridiculously uncoordinated girl plotting to take over make-believe worlds through books, handstands, and imaginary throwing knives. In her spare time, she feeds unicorns, sings 80’s hairband songs to her three muggle children, and ogles her husband who looks strikingly like Wolverine. They live in California, which is perfect for stalking L.A. bands, Joss Whedon, and the ocean. Her debut YA fantasy novel, STORM SIREN and SIREN'S FURY are available now in bookstores and online, and SIREN'S SONG will be out March 2016 from TN HarperCollins.

Tuesday, March 15, 2016

It has been months since we get to attend to a book signing and talk to our blogger friends again since #CTCinPH book signing event. So imagine our excitement when last February, National Bookstore announced that Victoria Aveyard, author of Red Queen, will visit here in the Philippines for a two day book signing event. YAY! Last Sunday, March 6, Victoria arrived almost exactly as the forum was scheduled to begin–which was awesome because we were super excited to meet the person behind the powerful and amazing Red Queen series.

Read on to know what we learned about Victoria Aveyard, her books, and her writing process during the fun and informative Q&A!

Victoria Aveyard’s advice to aspiring writers is you need to finish your first draft. Write the end at the end. Don’t edit yourself too much, give yourself the benefit of the doubt.

It usually the world or an image that comes to her first when writing her books.

The most important part for her when writing is the characters. She believes that character is what makes a reader stay in the story. So it is very important to create characters that readers could relate to.

In terms of writing high tension scenes, Victoria says that that was the “easy” part for her, those were her favorite part to write. And romantic scenes were her weakness and she thinks that writing kissing scenes is harder than a long battle sequence. Victoria’s advice for aspiring writers who wanted to write these scenes was to read stuff like that and see how your favorite author do scenes like that and sort of internalize the language of those scenes.

The quiet scenes are always the hard one for her. Scenes which are sort of regrouping after something bad happened. In Red Queen the entire middle of the book is really very difficult for her. Because a lot of it was build up and lot is learning of the world.

The first screenplay she ever wrote was a zombie western apocalypse.

In other news, Universal studios has the film option to Red Queen. Victoria says that she have met all the producer, the director and everything that they wanted is happening right now for the story.

Her top 3 fantasies: Lord of the rings, which she had the book for two years until the pages fell apart. Harry Potter and Song of Ice and Fire, which had a lot of influence with Red queen.

She learned all story telling trick she knew from film school. Victoria says that from film, pacing is totally key, you need to get on your scene as much as possible. Knowing your audience is very important. In terms on which one she prefers between Film and Novel she says that she prefers the one which she wasn’t writing at the moment.

Victoria’s inspirations for her names came out of thin air originally but she wanted to put sort of romance in there. So what she does is she did a lot of Latin translations of words like Air or water. For abilities, she looked for Wikipedia and just sorted out the abilities that she would use in the story that would reflect each characters.

As far as literary betrayals go, one of the things that inspired her was Game of Thrones. Another one that really hurt for her was Serius Black and Dumbledore deaths. She also said that taking away the mentor or the one you lean to be is one of the storytelling 101.

In terms of writing, Victoria said that she want to keep writing until the day she died. After Red Queen she probably would do some more screenplays to keep muscles working meaning switching from medium to medium. She also want to continue writing fantasy. After Red Queen, she is signed to one more book to HarperCollins.

She likes genre mashups. Victoria tag herself as a kitchen sink writer and just write the story she likes.

More of emotional journey can be expected in Mare’s story in the latter books.

The scientific background or explanation when Silver and Red split both ways was actually a result of nuclear warfare and mutation a couple of thousand years before this world happen.

As per Victoria they were still not set on the title of the 3rd book. A couple of characters who were not in Glass Sword much would probably be in the 3rd book more.

After the Q&A we lined up to have our books signed and interact with her one-on-one.

Of course we can't pass the opportunity to model Red Queen and Glass Sword in flesh (haha)

After the event we then went to the Public Signing. The photos below didn't do any justice to the people who went to the event. As per NBS, there were around 1200 and more people who attend the signing, CRAZZZY! I think no one ever expected, not even NBS that there will be so many readers who will attend, I mean they had to cut the line to 1200 and this was just in Manila signing! #PoweofBookLove

To end this recap we just wanted to thank National Book Store for making all these awesome events happen and to Victoria for being such a great person!

Make sure to also check out our recap for Sarah J Mass Book Signing Event here in Manila soon!

Long before she was the terror of Wonderland — the infamous Queen of Hearts — she was just a girl who wanted to fall in love.

Catherine may be one of the most desired girls in Wonderland, and a favorite of the yet-unmarried King of Hearts, but her interests lie elsewhere. A talented baker, all she wants is to open a shop with her best friend and supply the Kingdom of Hearts with delectable pastries and confections. But according to her mother, such a goal is unthinkable for the young woman who could be the next Queen.

At a royal ball where Cath is expected to receive the king's marriage proposal, she meets Jest, the handsome and mysterious court joker. For the first time, she feels the pull of true attraction. At the risk of offending the King and infuriating her parents, she and Jest enter into an intense, secret courtship.

Cath is determined to define her own destiny and fall in love on her terms. But in a land thriving with magic, madness, and monsters, fate has other plans.

Wait a second! is this the story of Queen in Alice in Wonderland?! Oh my gosh we're getting a story of her life and it is going to be made by Queen herself Marissa Meyer uhm yes please sign me up!

Meet Vivi and Jonah: A girl and a boy whose love has the power save or destroy them.

Vivi and Jonah couldn't be more different. Vivi craves anything joyful or beautiful that life can offer. Jonah has been burdened by responsibility for his family ever since his father died. As summer begins, Jonah resigns himself to another season of getting by. Then Vivi arrives, and suddenly life seems brighter and better. Jonah is the perfect project for Vivi, and things finally feel right for Jonah. Their love is the answer to everything. But soon Vivi's zest for life falters, as her adventurousness becomes true danger-seeking. Jonah tries to keep her safe, but there's something important Vivi hasn't told him.

Perfect for fans of E. Lockhart and Jandy Nelson, When We Collided is a powerful story of two teens whose love is put to the test by forces beyond their control.

Never read any book by Emery Lord but the premise of the story seems interesting, would love to know what drives Vivi to take risks in everything and how Jonah will help her.

What are you waiting on this week? Leave a comment with your WoW link and I'll make sure to stop by your blog!